Mechanical Properties of Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Elevated Temperature

Abstract

Apart from many advantages, High Strength Concrete (HSC) has disadvantages in terms of brittleness and poor resistance to fire. Various studies suggest that when polypropylene (PP) fibers are uniformly distributed within concrete, they play an active role in improving spalling resistance of concrete when exposed to elevated temperature while having no adverse effect on its mechanical properties. Therefore, there is a necessity to quantify the effect of the addition of polypropylene fibers in terms of the fiber dosage, the strength of the concrete, and the residual mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced concrete under exposure to high temperature from fire. The study was carried out on three water/cement (w/c) ratios (0.47, 0.36 & 0.20) using granite aggregate for determining short term mechanical properties of Polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete in comparison to control mix. The experimental program includes 100 × 200 mm & 150 x 300 mm cylinders with fiber volume of 0.5%, that were subjected to temperatures exposures of 400 °C and 600 °C for durations of 1 hour. From the results, it was observed that no significant enhancement in mechanical properties such as modulus of elasticity, Poisson’s ratio, split tensile strength, flexural strength, and compressive